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As might be inferred from my last post on the Marusan / Marushin Toy / Marushin identity crisis, vintage dinosaur vinyls are somewhat of an obscure item. So I would have to think that mechanical dinosaur vinyls fall into that pocket of obscurity populated by things like remote-controlled Diaclone toys and the transforming train station robot (yes, you read that correctly).
Until recently, I was not even aware of the existence of Nakajima's walking dinosaur vinyls (the full company name is "Nakajima Seisakusho," or 'Nakajima Works' in the factory/production sense). Nakajima is probably better known for its production of Tiger Mask vinyls, nodders and the famous Astro-Mu toys. (See this entry on ToyboxDX for information on Nakajima's other plastic and die-cast offerings.) Almost nothing will turn up if you search for their name in reference to mechanical walkers or dinosaurs; even the websites that specialize in dinosaur vinyls do not seem to acknowledge these. Again, mechanical vinyls are not extremely popular, and less so for the non-licensed variety.
I found this Triceratops walker while browsing the Shibuya Mandarake on a recent trip to Japan. He was easy to miss, having been relegated to the corner of a corner case, and so I noticed him on my second or third pass of the row. The price was right (read: inexpensive)- and it was one that I had never seen before- so I gestured and Engrished my way to a purchase. The salesperson helpfully offered to demonstrate the walking feature, but I thought better of testing the longevity of 40 year old mechanical components in a dimly lit store.
Finally having one of these in hand, I am a little undecided as to whether to pursue the set. There are 3 dinosaurs that I know of- the other two are the Allosaurus and Stegosaurus. All 3 appear to share the same base (i.e., only the top part changes between toy); although the toy is molded in two parts, the waist joint is fixed in place. I find the bipedal portrayal of Triceratops pretty amusing, much like another company's vinyl of a Stegosaurus that has been endowed with huge, beefy arms and sharp teeth. It's a total '70s crossover between reality and live-action shows. The paint is applied precisely to the toy, which is nice as many dinosaur vinyls were given a spray-and-pray job, being the cheaper of the cheap vinyls. The one disappointment of this Triceratops is that the feet are made of a brown plastic, where I had previously thought them to be metal. I guess they were never high-end toys, but it has a little less of a sturdy feel.
Here you can see the Nakajima stamp and "Triceratops" name on the side of the base. Nakajima is affectionately known as "turtle mark" by collectors, due to the appearance of its logo. I do not know whether these were sold loose or boxed- as is the case with so many mechanical vinyls- but it is oddly easy to find specimens with little to no paint wear (that is, if you can find them at all).
Is it an undiscovered gem or another piece of crap that I am using to weigh down my apartment? You decide.
Marusan and Marusin Toys both produced lines of stylized dinosaur vinyls in the 60s and 70s, respectively. Perhaps not surprisingly as a result of this, they are often confused with one another by American collectors. It certainly does not help that their names are nearly identical, differing only by a single Japanese character.
[WARNING: Boring toy nerd stuff!]
Most collectors are, no doubt, familiar with Marusan [マルサン] in some fashion; less so for Marushin and/or Marusin. Marushin is known perhaps only to a handful of niche collectors due to its unusual product mix, which could be charitably called, "eclectic." Kaiju toy collectors are often familiar with the Arklon-esque die-cast Garuban (but maybe not its gorilla-headed sibling) and the mechanized Kemlar, both produced by Marushin. To make matters more complicated, a company named Marusin Toys produced a rather substantial line of vinyl dinosaur toys in the mid-70s (around the same time period in which Marushin was active).
Originally I believed that Marushin and Marusin were synonymous, Marusin simply being a separately-adopted romanized version of Marushin. But now, I am not so certain. Besides having radically different product offerings, Marushin is consistently written as "Omocha no Marushin" [おもちゃ の マルシン] on its toys' packaging (which could roughly translate to "Marushin Toys," but they never write it that way); Marusin is written as Marusin, Marusin Toys, or Marushin Toys (seen on the header for a dinosaur vinyl), and always in English. The last permutation of Marusin is the most puzzling because it suggests that the 'Marusin' spelling was not intentional. I suspect that Marushin and Marusin Toys are distinct companies with similar names (similar to Miura and Miura Toy- which is a discussion in itself), possibly chosen to emulate the more famous Marusan name. On the other hand, certain knowledgeable toy folk seem to believe that both -shin companies were spin-offs of Marusan itself. The truth remains elusive.
So are you still with me?
This Kentrosaurus toy is one of the mid-size dinosaurs made by Marusin Toys. I wish I had taken a photograph of its stamp, but it simply says "Marusin" in English. The vinyl material is extremely hard and lightweight (thin); it is surprising to me that you can regularly find these with all of the spines intact.
Marusin dinos are sort of hit or miss in my opinion. The distinguishing characteristic of these toys is their expressive, almost cartoonish, face. Some even have little white rows of triangle teeth. A few, however, cross the line and just look downright goofy or cheap (sorry Brontosaurus- yes, it's Brontosaurus and not Apatosaurus, isn't that wonderful?), and others were saddled with horribly drab paint schemes. Kentrosaurus is one of the best of the bunch, I think, as he has a wonderful 'happy cow' face and an appetizing color arrangement that makes me think of ripening mangoes. It tickles me that anyone would even think to make a toy of Kentrosaurus.
As for dinosaur vinyls, Marusan is most well-known for their 5 toys based on the 1,000,000 B.C. movie [恐竜１００万年]. But this little toy is actually from Marusan's later line of vinyl toys featuring the famous animated character, Norakuro. Without getting into the details of this line or the background of Norakuro, it is sufficient for our purposes to know that these miniature dinosaur vinyls were actually accessories for the larger Norakuro toys. There are two different sculpts (including this one) and at least two color variations of each; I believe these were randomly packed with the associated character toy.
What is interesting about this mini figure is that it bears a sculptural resemblance to the original characters created for Marusan's Ultra Kaiju Series (a.k.a., Marusan originals). And in fact, both the Norakuro toys and the Ultra Kaiju toys were produced by Marusan's 3rd incarnation around 1968-69, suggesting that the same sculptor may have been responsible for both. It is truly amazing that such a detailed little toy would be generated solely for use as an accessory for another toy!
Well I hope that I have managed to thoroughly confuse you as to the source of vintage dinosaur vinyls. And as Gary Owens once said in my favorite childhood dinosaur video- "You're just scratching the surface."
